of the right wing. those who imply he's of another religion. some exotic you know what religion. the 58% of romney voters who confessed they're really voting against that guy in the white house. they're hearing these terrible things about. you want to know the nasty side of this campaign right now looking at it? it's not the peppering of shots where romney made his quarter million bucks, it's the relentless un-american campaign of innuendo and zen phobia against the man who observes us in the white house. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" starts right now. welcome to "politicsnation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, the secret's out about mitt romney's secretive campaign. willard mitt romney is running the most secretive presidential campaign in modern history. refusing to provide details to basic questions about his record and his views. how long did he actually run

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bain capital? why did he have a swiss bank account? who are the billionaires and millionaires funding his campaign? releasing his tax returns would help answer many of the questions. but once again today he refused. >> the obama people keep on wanting more and more and more. more things to pick through. more things for their opposition research to make a mountain out of and to distort and be dishonest for. we're going to put out two years of tax returns. >> this weekend even his allies broke rank and said if he doesn't release more tax returns, then he must have something to hide. >> the cost of not releasing the returns are clear. therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing. >> should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy. yao got to do six to eight years of back tax returns. >> i was asked do you think governor romney should release his tax returns and i said i do.

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>> there's obviously something there. if there was nothing there, he would say have at it. there's something there that compromises what he's said in the past about something. >> there's something there. the secrecy is not new for romney. oddly for a public figure that's been of political faith. his secrets at bane capital. romney now says he left bain in 1999. but he's listed as ceo for three years after that. today the new york times reports quote, romney's name or signature appears on dozens of documents filed with the s.e.c. that's the security and exchange commission. between february of 1999 and august 2001. all told, romney's name appeared on at least 142 such forms. 142 forms.

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all signed after he says he left. he no longer had a role in the company, he says. to explain his inconsistency, team romney has been forced to introduce a whole new explainer to the political world. folks, may i introduce you to a new talking point. retroactive retirement. >> he retired retroactively at that point. he ended up not going back to the firm. >> he took a leave of absence and ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively to february of 1999 as a result. >> folks, i think republicans are retroactively regretting they didn't do a better job of vetting romney back during the primary. but wait. there's more. president obama, senator mccain, and president bush all released the name of their campaign bu

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bundlers who bring in the big dollars. but romney is refusing to do so. he apparently thinks the american people don't deserve to know who's raising money for his campaign. all this secrecy makes for bad publ politics. it also makes for bad policy. we should all be worried about what romney is hiding for plans in the economy and plans for the country. joining me now is dana milbank, columnist for the washington post. dana, let's start with you. how does all this secrecy effect in rounding out the portrait of willard mitt romney? >> well, look. the retroactive retirement is a powerful concept. what this means is mitt romney is potentially a time traveler and can go back in time and change history. the next thing we can expect is he'll go back in time and take his dog off the roof of the

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family car. assuming he cannot do that, however, he does seem to have this repeated problem with not getting information out there. i don't know why it keeps happening. whatever's in those tax returns, it can't be as bad as the bleeding he's going to be suffering every day. and he's going to be forced to release them in some form anyway. he's fallen into the trap that the obama campaign has laid for him quite masterfully. and i don't see how he gets out of this. >> now, with republicans coming out, with conservative commentators, columnists, tv commentators coming out, do you think ultimately he's going to be forced to release them? >> well, he's already said he's going to release another batch. the last year's 2011 returns. but there's kind of this braying for it. >> he said he's going to release 2011? >> right. >> but that's not a batch, dana.

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a batch is, like, it's others that ran and won for president. >> it gets very difficult when this sort of thing becomes so central. it becomes a proxy issue for all sorts of other things he's not releasing. he can refuse to release it, of course. he used to be a businessman. they thrive on secrecy. he's in a different arena here and he's not realizing how much damage he's causing himself. it's hard to see how he gets away with it. >> it's the quiet rooms he talks about. erin, let me go to you. when you look at the record, president obama released 12 years. george w. bush, eight years. george romney his own father, 12 years. and when you hear this raise to the romney campaign he's been inaccurately saying teresa heinz kerry didn't releez her taxes in 2004. let me show you what he says

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about mrs. kerry. >> john kerry ran for president. his wife who has hundreds of millions of dollars, she never released her tax returns. somehow this wasn't an issue. >> now, i might add the kerry campaign -- not the campaign but his office, he's not running anymore. came back with this. the romney campaign needs to stop getting their facts wrong. mitt romney ought to speak for himself rather than making inaccurate comments about teresa. it's interesting to me, erin. first he was saying kerry only put out two years and it ended up being five. he's trying to do everything he can to deflect from answering. why he doesn't do what moes people have done. >> well, remember also, teresa heinz kerry didn't run for president. john kerry did. and mitt romney is running for president. the bigger problem is, look. this is indicative how mitt

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romney could govern as president. will he keep secrets from the american people if he's in negotiations with other countries et cetera? that's the question. that's why this is a big problem. americans want transparency with their government. he's not giving that to anybody right now. >> and part of it is he said he was the business guy that could bring the economy back. he told people to look at what he did at bain but now he's saying i'm not going to tell you about how i handled my own finances or bain. >> yeah. that's right. and here's the other thing. this is why this is not going to go away. the press core is like a moth to a flame when it comes to secrets. unless he puts out tax returns or is more upfront about his tenure at bain capital, we're going to keep digging until we get to the bottom of it. that's why it's a problem for mitt romney going forward. >> now, dana, he's a businessman. a cost effective guy. what could be in there that would be worse than what he's going through now?

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i mean there has to be something that makes him feel like i'll take all of this -- i think you used the term bleeding -- is less than if i release it. what could this be? >> look, we don't know, reverend. that's what's so tantalizing about this. ? he was getting ready for this the last time. he rearranged his finances to get it more in a politically salable position to be in. there was a time he did not expect his tax records to be public. and when you're in a business environment, you expect a privacy. you expect to protect proprietary information. he was dealing in a completely different realm. we know the path leads to the cayman islands and switzerland. that's embarrassing enough. or are there still other things on top of that. and obama has been merciless in exploiting this as he should be. so clearly there seems to be

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something else. >> erin, the thing that also bothers me is the secrecy of his economic plan. paul krogman in the sunday times said quote, romney's tax cuts would increase the annual deficit by almost $500 billion. he claims he would make this up by closing loopholes. but he's refused to give any specifics and there's no reason to believe him. so not only is he not being forthcoming with his leaving bain and tenure at bain which he is the one that told us to look at, he won't even tell us his policies in terms of i want to pay for this by closing loopholes but he won't tell us how. >> exactly. mitt romney's advisers have indicated they think specifics are going to be a problem. once you put specifics out about the plan, then it gives the press something to make a target of. the same principle with why he

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won't disclose his bundlers that are helping him fund raise for his campaign. in that case, it's guilty by association. then the press will go after each of those bundlers looking to their business deals. and each time one of those bundlers have had a bad business deal, mitt romney has been guilty by association again. that's why he's not doing that again. >> interesting. so you want a specific vote for a specific office but your not going to talk specific policy. dana milbank, erin mcpike thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, president obama goes to the key swing state of ohio with a tough message for the romney campaign. i'll talk about the campaign strategy with the raging cajun james carville. he joins me live here in the studio. also is anthony weiner making a political comeback? he's back in the headlines

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today. in a big way. and the kitten who took on the koch brothers. i mean the doberman. that's coming up. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

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nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds.

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folks, have you joined us on facebook yet? the conversation is going all day long. today our "politicsnation" facebook fans are writing about retroactive retirement. they're having some fun with it. christine wonders is retiring retroactively mean you have to give your salary back? and john says he'd like to

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retroactively play that winning lotto number. felicia is using similar logic. quote, i retroactively started my diet in january, but i continued to eat whatever i wanted until today. great stuff. and we want to hear your retroactive rewrite too. or anything else you have on your mind. head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show end. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

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♪ lord, you got no reason ♪ you got no right ♪ ♪ i find myself at the wrong place ♪ [ male announcer ] the ram 1500 express. ♪ it says a lot about you. ♪ in a deep, hemi-rumble sort of way. guts. glory. ram. there's a new issue raising questions about the secrecy of mitt romney's past. one surrounding an accomplishment he loves to talk

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about. >> my leadership helped save the olympics from scandal and give our american athletes the chance to make us all proud as they did. i led an olympics out of the shadows of scandal. i worked in business. i worked in helping turn around the olympics. i worked at one company, bain, for 25 years. i left that to go off and help save the olympic games. >> romney helped bring the olympics back from the brink. but did he do it for political gain? and how did his connections to bain play into it? here's how the story goes. mr. romney stepped in as ceo of the olympics after it got caught up in an international bribery scandal. part of romney's job at the time was to drum up corporate sponsorship. one such group was the insurance company john hancock. they had threatened to pull their money in the wake of the scandal. but according to "the boston globe," mitt romney met with the

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ceo and argued that quote, his political future hung on the fate of the games. hancock came back on board. and many more deals were made. but here's the thing. according to "the boston phoenix," the details of those deals were never disclosed. romney exempted them from his total transparency pledge regarding the finances and business arrangements. this is something that has people scratching their heads. joining me now is david bernstein who's covered romney for a long time. he first reported on the story back in 2007. david, thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> my pleasure. >> now, everyone is focused on when mr. romney left bain, but why aren't more people asking about his time running the olympics? >> that's the flip side of it, of course, is that those shadow

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years at bain as i call them are the years that he was running the olympics. and one of the questions i've raised in the past and others have raised here and there are about possible conflicts of interest and ways that he may have done his business there to try to as you point out get those sponsorships that were so necessary not just for saving the games which was the immediate thing but from his perspective of saving his political career. the quote you shows from david sums up his thngs at the time. mr. romney felt he needed to be the savior of the olympic games. and you could imagine that someone might have been able to use his power or assumed power over a conglomerate like bain capital and all those companies

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it controls when making deals. especially when you look at what we do now. >> we're not saying he did not do a good job at the olympics. he did a good job and saved the olympics. but we're talking about how he did it. and things that didn't come out. like, for example, in 2007 you wrote about this and list off staples as an example of a company that had ties to romney and bain. let me bring what you said. by now, you write, we all know that bain invested start-up money in the company in 1985. but romney also had a connection by the time romney took over the olympics. he was on the staples board and holding a financial stake in the company. while romney was running the olympics, he told the ceo of staples that he would work on lobbying the olympic board to switch their office supply contract to staples.

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but before staples got the bid, office depot got it. the story doesn't end there. $1 million to office depot to back out of the deal. they declined and kept the sponsorship. seems like in all of this sponsorship, there was a lot of wheeling and dealing that allegedly was going on. >> that's right. and he writes about this in his book turnaround. this isn't something that i just made up. he wrote about it himself. that his friend who is the ceo, was the ceo of staples was very reluctant that he was not going to be a sponsor of the olympics. and romney says he went and made him sweeten the deal by saying that he would lobby the trustees of the salt lake organizing

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committee and other corporate connections he had which may have meant other companies that bain had interest in, for instance. he would lobby them to change their contract supplies to staples. >> we're not alleging anything illegal, but clearly when he talks about transparency and accuses the president of chicago style quid pro quo, clearly here we're seeing he raised corporate money if these dots connect as you wrote it by making certain overtures and arrangements that would sort of sweeten the pie. >> that would have made it much more -- they would have put money into staples' pocket and decide when romney -- as you mentioned -- was on the board, held about a million dollars worth of stock. and at the time bain -- although bain capital had divested its

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initial investment, it had tens of millions of dollars of stock as well. >> let me read another one that caught my eye. jon huntsman. he gave a million dollars, this is you writing again, to the olympics. then july of 2001, bain capital invested roughly a quarter of a billion dollars in huntsman's committee. he became the co-chair of romney's 2008 presidential campaign. another combination of coincidences. >> again, we don't know what happened here. but we do know that jon huntsman, this is senior, the father of the recent presidential candidate. a very influential individual in utah philanthropy circles. he was adamant he was not going to contribute to the olympics games in any way. and in fact made that claim through a spokesperson just a few days before, apparently

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changing his mind and writing a million dollar check. and then as you say, about a year later, bain capital came through with this enormous piece of funding that helped huntsman corporation complete a takeover deal that made huntsman compensation the largest privately held chemical company in the world. >> aside from the obvious there's certain things we don't get due to him not dealing with transparency, let me ask you straight out. a lot of these transactions happened after he was at the olympics, correct? >> that's right. >> so if these things were happening and bain was involved, if romney no longer was with bain, then how could he help to engineer bain's investment and bain putting money in? was romney still calling shots at bain or at least in touch

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with bain? he had nothing to do with bain, wasn't involved in the meetings, wasn't in touch with them. yet coincidentally some of the big contributors to the olympics after he was there ended up doing business as we've just given two cases, getting money from bain. and this huntsman deal announced in 2001 was a big enough of a deal that the salt lake olympic organizing committee and romney got kbes about it. it sort of leads back to this question of was romney in a position to be able to call shots at bain capital maybe directly maybe indirectly maybe in conversations putting people in touch, hard to say. another example -- >> david, we're going to have to hold it there.

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but we'll be watching this. inquiring minds want to know. >> very good. >> david bernstein, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. coming up, president obama on the road in ohio and says romney's tax policy could create 800,000 jobs. but there was a catch. and james carville is live in studio on the fight for the middle class. [ donovan ] i hit a wall.

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hammering romney in a new ad. using romney's own singing to make the point. ♪ oh, beautiful spacious skies ♪ for purple mountain majesty ♪ above the fruited plain >> and recent polls show it's still a tight race with both sides fighting for middle class voters who may decide this election. joining me now is the man who literally wrote the book on the middle class. james carville. he's a longtime democratic strategist, former campaign manager for president clinton's 1992 campaign. he is co-author of a new book titled "it's the middle class stupid." james carville, great to have you on the show tonight. >> thank you. glad to be here.

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i want to start with your book. >> you and stan greenburg write, we failed. it is as simple as that. we put it at the center of the world. because you can't have an america without a middle class. well, we failed and we have got to do better. and that's why we're writing this book. you both saw something that really worried you about the state of the middle class. tell me about the politics of it. >> first of all, the middle class depending how you count it is between 65% and 80% of the country. they have been under assault for 30 years. wages are stagnant. they lost 40% of their net worth between the year 2007 and 2009. they understand what's happened to them, and they want somebody in power to be a voice for the middle class. we're urging democrats to be that. and i have to tell you, i'm very, very happy. the president is really starting to embrace this. i think this is a very good thing.

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he's going to have to do it over a long period of time. the democrats suggest branding themselves as the middle class. that's the interest. >> the bottom line of this book is that you're really trying to have a huge wakeup call to those running for the middle class. >> have you seen a lobbyist of the middle class somewhere? have you seen an institute for the middle class somewhere? have you seen a check written to figure out how to get them into better jobs and education and get health care costs down. all the things we can do. i think that the obama administration has made a start with health care costs. i think we've got to push ahead. that's the ticket. >> no doubt about that. now, president obama was on cbs this morning and he said that he regrets more than anything else

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that he did not inspire americans. you've been critical in the past saying he needs to get on message. let me show you what he said. >> the mistake of my first couple of years was thinking this job was just about getting the policy right. then my first two years i think the notion was -- well, you know, he's been juggling and managing a lot of stuff. but where's the story that tells us where he's going? and i think that was a legitimate criticism. >> what would you say to that? >> i think the criticism was legitimate and his acknowledging it was legitimate. you have to take people -- that's why franklin roosevelt had fireside chats. i think the president was busy. he had a lot of things to deal with. he says look, i'm a smart guy. i have smart guys around me. we're trying to do what's best for the country. and that's all true, but you have to bring people on and tell them what you're doing.

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i think he's -- as ed gillespie says he's retroactively making a good point. nothing wrong with looking back saying we could have done this better. i admire him for saying that. >> so you think he's doing better? at times you've been critical at nudging them. >> yes, i do. the campaign has been very aggressive. i think they really starting to put the middle class front and center. i was critical of the message when it was saying the economy is doing better and we did these things. i don't think people feel that yet. and i think people understand that what he inherited, he doesn't need to remind them. they already know that. he's got to put this focus on the next four years. how it's different than the romney administration. how he's better to be trusted by the middle class to do these things. >> if you were advising the campaign, go with what you're going to do with the next four years, deal with the middle class. >> right. and i'm very -- if i would be

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advising the campaign, i'd say keep on rolling. keep on rolling. they're doing pretty good right now. the last thing they need is my advice now. i think -- i very much admire and respect what i see now. when i haven't if i didn't see something, i have said something. starting in august when it looked like came in and not doing a deal, i said something. i'm not reflectively going to be everything. i really want the president to win re-election and i love the direction that his campaign has taken of late. >> now, they came out with a new ad. let me show you this ad and get your view. ♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for purple mountain majesty ♪ above the fruited plains >> what do you think of that kind of ad?

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>> at the end of that ad there's something that's very brief. and at the tag -- at the end of the ad it says mitt romney, he's not the solution, he's the problem. and what i think that obama people are saying is, look. we've had to deal with his outsourcing. they're trying to pass the thing that the company's going to get tax breaks for shipping overseas. we've had to deal with this. and romney is not the guy you want to try to fix this problem. i think the direction of the ad is really good. it's a little bit funny and it's kind of along the way it's kind of clever, but underneath it it makes a good point, i think. >> what does the middle class need to hear, james carville, to feel that they are being championed? >> i think the president needs to say i understand if this has been a 30-year problem for you. i want you to know in the last four years we had the financial crisis to worry about.

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my focus is the middle class. i'm not going to do it overnight. we're going to keep trying to continue to keep the health care costs down, to improve our educational system and give you the kind of future that you need to have that you can prosper america. we can have an america that prospers all across the board, not just the 1%. >> james carville, thanks for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> the book is called "it's the middle class stupid." thanks, james. i've got my copy. you got to get your own. still ahead, is it too soon for anthony weiner to make a political comeback? really? we'll see. but first, are those tea party dreams collapsing? nope. it's just a record-breaking moment. they're flipping and flopping like willard romney. we'll explain it all. next.

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trouble with a car insurance claim. [ voice of dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ normal voice ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. are you in good hands? we're back with our summer break. it's a break from the political battles of the day. a time to rest. to relax. to recharge. we start in china. and it may or may not be willard romney offshoring news. a new record has been set for human dominos.

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1,001 chinese volunteers formed the world's longest chain of hooum dominos. these men and women broke the previous record set by americans in new orleans earlier this year. wonder who made their uniform? back here in the states it's a classic david and goliath battle. a tiny kitten called pancake isn't afraid to take on the huge doberman by the name of sugar tree. we haven't seen a fight like this since president obama took on citizens united. is the doberman backed up by the koch brothers? or just outside of los angeles, we saw the "politicsnation" interns. kidding, kidding. it's an ice cream eating contest for charity. more than 400 contestants competed going to the make a wish foundation. the winner ate the bowl in 48

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seconds. no word if darrell issa wants to investigate this one. here's what i want to see next. the blueberry pie face-off. and that's your summer break for this monday. [ male announcer ] let's say you need to take care of legal matters. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes sense.

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♪ it's faster than the blink of an eye. ♪ faster than a flash of lightning. and it was the difference between michael phelps winning eight gold medals... instead of seven. a hundredth of a second...

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just think of the cheers if lightning strikes twice. visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. join our global cheer. we're back with a story buzzing around the political world today. is anthony weiner making a comeback? just over a year ago, the former congressman made an admission to the world and apologized for the sexting scandal that made him the target of late night comedians and he was forced to resign. >> today i'm announcing my resignation from congress. so my colleagues can get back to work, my neighbors can choose a new representative, and most importantly that my wife and i can continue to heal from the

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damage i have caused. >> today the rumors are flying and weiner is back over the headlines. telling the new york post he's seriously considering running for the mayor of new york in next year's election to replace michael bloomberg. with $4.5 million in his campaign account, he has the money to get in. but can he come back. and is the time now. joining me now is darryl lewis and alicia menendez. the host of "huff post live." thank you both for being here. >> good to see you. >> good to see you. you've covered weiner a long time. how much of this is true? >> what we're hearing is -- or

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what you are observing is that he over a year of saying almost nothing publicly popped up on a raid know show for an interview, seems to be finding his way into newspapers. and you know, if you know the reporters and know the relationship he had with reporters, you have to assume that this is stuff that he either knew about or had a friend or an associate send to these media outlets to sort of get some talk going. and it makes all the sense in the world to sort of take the temperature of the city and see if people are open to a weiner candidacy. >> alicia, he has $4.5 million. and that's probably more than anyone that is thinking of running for mayor next year other than the local -- >> no one has that. >> so he would be very formidable in terms of finances.

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he's got name recognition. does the scandal. >> when you look back to the heat of the scandal, new yorkers are more forgiving than the national media. didn't want to see him resign two different polls saying they didn't think it was a big deal. those numbers were different when you ask new yorkers if they were to vote for him for mayor. we haven't seen polling since then. very soon see his name be floated. i don't think the question is whether or not it's too soon for new yorkers. i think it's whether or not it's too soon for him. in order to make a comeback, you have to actually go away for a little bit. and i don't think he's done that just yet. >> now, errol, it's interesting. when i mentioned 4.5 million, what's interesting is he'd be eligible for public matching funds if he ran for any citywide position that opens up through. 2013. but he will lose it if his

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decision is not made before 2013. >> exactly right. >> but the money motive in this for him to go now. >> some of the speculation reported was that money may be burning a hole in his pocket. that yeah, you could give up not just the money but also a chance. this is the first time this seat has been open in a decade there hasn't been anybody running for mayor. no incumbent running for mayor since 2001. so he doesn't want to miss out on that opportunity. there is that financial motive that you just mentioned. and yeah, he is in second place. christine quinn has about 5 million and he has about 4.5. if he gets to the maximum which several candidates can do, he has financially as good a chance as anyone else. and one thing worth noting, alicia's right. there's this question about whether or not this is the right office for him. the mayor appoints the head of the school system in new york city now. and that makes what he got involved in a little bit

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different. and as a father, i think you understand what i'm talking about. it has a whole different coloration to it when you think about is this somebody you want sort of in charge of a million school kids? >> now, he's given his first interstrew since resigning on wnyc show. and he addressed the scandal. listen to this, alicia. >> i still have regrets. i paid a very, very high price. but i'm still committed to the same things i was and i have a 6-month-old that i have to go and feed now. as i said when i resigned i feel great regret for the people i let down. >> now, he sounds contrite, but he's not saying much more than what he's already said. i know weiner. not hang out buddies, but i've known and dealt with him through the years. very ambitious. very much ahead. no reverse in his transmission.

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it's full ahead. and i think he's the kind of guy that i don't know that he could get politics out of his blood. >> right now we're all political junk kies so we can appreciate d understand. as much as he's considering a run, he's also really excited to have his name back in the mix. he wants his name to be floated. he wants his name to be relevant. there's a reason not only he's talking about running but floating that idea to the press but also he's doing all of these press interviews and it will be a personal choice he has to make. there are some systematic choices. have committed to other campaigns. as you noted there are people in the race doing quite well. complicated field. >> i mean, when you look at this nationally, people around the country and especially on the left of center miss his voice. he was a very strong voice, a very aggressive voice in the congress. and this whole debate around

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health care and all, people missed his voice. so though he would be running for a local office, nationally the perception is you've got people that did a lot worse that came back. and that there's no actual physical interplay here. >> there is, in fact -- you know, he's had 68,000 twitter followers and a national network you eluded to that could probably help him in a lot of different ways. another interesting thing to know, for a new york city democrat locally at home, he was a centrist democrat. when he talked about public spending. when he talked about various policies for policing and everything else, he fell in the middle. most could say right of center among democrats running. >> he was a local centrist and a national progressive. no doubt about it. well, we'll watch what happens. errol lewis and alicia menendez, thank you for your time.

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>> thank you. 40 years ago, nixon broke with his party and went to china. would any republican leader show that same kind of independence today? that's next. man: there's a cattle guard, take a right.

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i want to recognize an anniversary of a politician who did something as important for this country as it was surprising. on july 15th, 1971, president richard nixon announced he would visit communist china. >> i have taken this action because of my profound conviction that all nations will gain from a reduction of tensions and a better relationship between the united

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states and the people's republic of china. >> that meeting with communist party chairman mao mended a rift between the u.s. and and china. >> this was the week that changed the world. >> it did change the world and changed american politics. nixon's reputation is built on being an anti-communist as a young politician. he was a major figure in the red scare. even proposing a bill to register communist with the federal government. so his decision as president was a huge departure for him. it was so memorable, it entered our political lexicon. a nixon to china moment. in fact, chief justice roberts' thought to uphold the affordable care act. so you have to give presint